Id's I picked up

Matt Gibbs · Post by **Matt Gibbs** » 24 Sep 2006 18:21

Couple of ID's I picked up to an Aachen girl, always like to get small groups, more interest in what a person may have done in the war.

In this case a girl working for the Reichsbahn as a "Gehilfin" which basically means "aide". In this case working in Aachen fron 22.7.40. From the other ausweis for the Red Cross which has her birth date we can see she started work at the age of 20 which must be her age in the photo. [give or take a few months]. She is still working in Aachen on 1/8/44 when the red cross ID is issued to her. I am assuming the Red Cross pass is from the Kriegsmarine official to say she is entitled to wear the red cross armband as a red cross auxilliary stretcher bearer, or something similar.

Regards
Matt Gibbs

ChrisMAg2 · Post by **ChrisMAg2** » 24 Sep 2006 19:00

Matt,
you think both IDs are for the same person? Why did the first name change, from
Anna with the Reichsbahn to Anni with the KM?
Regards
Christian M. Aguilar

Matt Gibbs · Post by **Matt Gibbs** » 24 Sep 2006 19:05

Unless they mixed up with her sister [!], came from the same estate lot from a dealer, same folds in the middle where they were kept together for years in a tatty wallet. It'sn ot that I have never seen any spelling mistakes on documents before, but I believe they are to the same person thanks. Perhaps she prefered to be called "Anni" and thats the name she gave to the Kriegsmarine clerk who in late 44 never asked further, or maybe he was overworked or something. Without a sworn affadavit from the family, and only paying a pittance for these I am happy anyway.
Regards
Matt Gibbs

Vikki · Post by **Vikki** » 24 Sep 2006 20:05

Matt,

It’s an interesting pair of documents! The second Ausweis does authorize her to wear the armband with the lettering “Hilfskrankenträger”, and also indicates that as such, she is under the protection of the Geneva Convention.

What’s more interesting to me, though, is that it’s issued not by the DRK, but by the Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine. At first I was going to ask (out of my own ignorance of military organization): Did the Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine have an office in Aachen? But on a second look, the “Krankenträger” Ausweis only says that she was born in Aachen. By four years after the Reichsbahn Ausweis was issued, and with the war going on, she may well have been (and the document issued) elsewhere by 44.

You’re right, sets of documents to one person like this can tell interesting stories!

~Vikki

Matt Gibbs · Post by **Matt Gibbs** » 24 Sep 2006 23:18

Thanks Vikki
Yes what I liked most about it is that it was specially issued by the OKM and I love the large Kriegsmarine stamp on it. It is backed onto some kind of thin linen "paper" to make it more durable and lasting. Mostly I liked the photo on the Reichsbahn card though. Makes you think someone getting a job at 20 when the Reich was victorious and what they must have seen by the time they worked in the Red Cross in 1944.
Regards
Matt Gibbs

Vikki · Post by **Vikki** » 25 Sep 2006 02:58

Matt,

That's exactly the kind of series of documents I like.

Is the Hilfskrankenträger document on "oilcloth" (slightly glazed, "plastic" finish?) I checked after I wrote, and Young and Meinz' German Third Reich Era Documents (vol. 2, p. 281) shows an example that they say is on oilcloth. No big deal, as a later example may have been on paper, but I thought that may be the case with yours.

~Vikki

Matt Gibbs · Post by **Matt Gibbs** » 25 Sep 2006 19:06

Its not especially shiny but the "paper or whatever" is certainly durable and has a kind of "weave" to it. Maybe thats the late war robust oilcloth finish. Good point.
Regards
Matt Gibbs